Focus group @ PLoP 2015

Paul Inventado and Peter Scupelli led a focus group discussion on “Developing an open, collaborative design pattern repository” at the 22nd Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (PLoP) 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Abstract:

Ensuring the production of high quality patterns is challenging for four reasons: first, it is expensive (e.g., face-to-face meetings in international conferences); second, it lacks incentive for evaluating, critiquing, improving, and evolving existing pattern languages; third, author attribution is an issue; and fourth, stakeholders, especially designers and end-users who are the primary beneficiaries of patterns, are often not part of the process (Dearden & Finlay, 2006). There have been calls for a widespread collaboration between stakeholders in the production of design patterns (Bayle et al., 1998; Dearden & Finlay, 2006). In this workshop, we present a framework for collaboratively producing design patterns. We use the case study of producing online learning system design patterns to explain the open, collaborative pattern repository. We describe how diverse stakeholders (e.g., educators, learning analytics experts, interaction designers, online learning system experts and developers, pattern writers) could contribute to the design pattern production process. We use an open pattern repository Wiki prototype to illustrate the concept. The repository would manage design patterns and the processes needed for producing and maintaining them such as indexing, versioning, documentation, and communication.